50 Best Places to Travel in 2020 When Planning Your Vacation - Travel + Leisure
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What makes a place worth visiting right now? That's what we at Travel + Leisure ask ourselves when compiling our annual list of the 50 best places to travel. Is it a show-stopping new hotel? A once-in-a-lifetime celebration? A critical mass of game-changing restaurants?
For definitive answers on the best vacation spots of the moment, we hit the books, scouring tourism statistics, scoping out major events, charting new flight routes, and logging hotel debuts. We take stock of the most compelling new restaurant openings, scroll through the Instagram posts of our most well-traveled pals, and mine our inboxes for tips. We also survey our vast network of travel experts — T+L's A-List travel advisors, first, plus trusted writers, hospitality insiders, and other industry pros — to see what places they have their eyes on.
Related: Guide to more travel ideas
The result is a list of must-visit vacation destinations, and with something to suit every interest — food, shopping, culture, history, and nature — one is bound to spark your wanderlust. We've got traveler favorites like Costa Rica and Austria, which are making waves in the months ahead. There are vacation spots still flying under the radar, like a tiny coastal surf town in Denmark, or Guyana, a South American idyll that has a fraction of the crowds of its neighbors. There are even places in your own backyard worth a closer look — who would've guessed just a few years ago that Oklahoma City would become this red-hot?
So, we ask you: where will your travels take you this year? On a wine-soaked river cruise through Portugal? To a ryokan-style luxury hotel in a serene corner of Kyoto? To a chic cabin in Maine for a feast of oysters plucked fresh from the sea?
Ahead, Travel + Leisure's 50 best places to travel in 2020, listed in alphabetical order. If you already have travel plans lined up for the coming year, share your vacation destination picks with us on social media with #TLBestPlaces.
1. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
For much of the past four decades, Menelik Palace loomed over Addis Ababa as a symbol of imperial imposition. Now, nearly two years into his term and with a Nobel Peace Prize already under his belt, the country's reformist prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has opened the 19th-century palace to the public and tapped local artist Elias Sime to build a public garden, slated to open midyear alongside the once-forbidding space. It's the latest sign that something has shifted in Ethiopia's capital — and thanks to a major expansion of Addis Ababa's airport that's tripled capacity and brought new routes, U.S. travelers can easily witness the change firsthand. Last year, Sime and his partner, the curator and cultural anthropologist Meskerem Assegued, opened the Zoma Museum after a 20-year planning and building process. Situated in the Mekanisa neighborhood, the museum blends Ethiopia old and new, using vernacular architecture as a backdrop for contemporary art — including some of Sime's own pieces. In its attention to both traditional and modern influences, Zoma parallels the aims of Addis Foto Fest, a biennial photography festival that will be held again in December 2020. Until then, find work by the country's finest artists on display at institutions such as St. George Gallery, Addis Fine Art, and LeLa Gallery. —Hannah Giorgis
2. Arequipa, Peru
The preserved colonial architecture of "the White City" — so named for its gleaming structures made from sillar, a volcanic rock — earned the historic center of Arequipa UNESCO World Heritage status in 2000. But a dearth of upmarket lodgings has kept this Peruvian destination off most travelers' radar. Now, the town finally has accommodations befitting the local history: August saw the opening of Cirqa, originally built in 1540, the year Arequipa was founded, as an inn for guests of the Church of San Agustín next door. The property marries preserved elements of the original parador — high vaulted ceilings, textural stone walls — with contemporary flourishes, such as black-steel-framed windows and a plunge pool. Further steeped in history is the cuisine at La Nueva Palomino, where a female-led staff cooks hearty stews from heirloom recipes. It's all best enjoyed while admiring the three volcanoes in the distance (Chachani, Misti, and Pichu Pichu) with a tall glass of chicha, an Andean beer made from corn. —Scott Bay
3. Asheville, North Carolina
With a small-town feel and big-city cultural cred, Asheville, North Carolina is home to artists, musicians, and food and drink entrepreneurs who were making microbrews and serving farm-to-table meals long before such things were de rigueur. Now the mountain town is becoming more traveler-friendly than ever, with new offerings that showcase the sophisticated side of Appalachia. The Asheville Art Museum reopened in November with 70 percent more gallery space, including a new wing and rooftop sculpture garden. Last September, the city hosted the inaugural Chow Chow, an Appalachian food festival featuring chefs like Katie Button and John Fleer. There's a slew of new watering holes, like cocktail bar and live-music venue Asheville Beauty Academy and neighborhood cocktail joint the Golden Pineapple. And Beer City still lives up to its nickname, with new openings like Burial Beer Co's Forestry Camp Restaurant and Bar, set on a former Civilian Conservation Corps compound; Cultura, a restaurant from the Wicked Weed Brewing team; and Dssolvr, a taproom that goes beyond beer with experiments in cider, mead, wine, and more. Downtown, the Foundry Hotel and Hotel Arras both arrived in 2019, adding lively, urbane alternatives to the scene. —Lila Harron Battis
4. Austria
Not long ago, Austria was viewed as the meringue of the Germanic world: beautiful to look at, yet somewhat dry when one actually bit in. But the country has reinvented itself, pouring resources into cutting-edge arts institutions while lovingly elevating the cultural jewels that made it so beloved in days gone by. In Vienna, a wave of new hotels is catering to a younger, hipper crowd. None is more emblematic of the changing capital than the Andaz Vienna Am Belvedere, part of a more than $240 million development project surrounding the city's central train station, which was completely rebuilt in 2015. Across the street, one of Vienna's preeminent venues for contemporary art has been rechristened the Belvedere 21, and the nearby Belvedere palaces, two Baroque buildings filled with classical art, have been beautifully renovated. Over in the ninth district, the Freud Museum has moved into two temporary locations while its main building readies for a May reopening; the expanded space will give access to Freud's family quarters and add a nearly 40,000-volume library. It's also a celebration-packed year for Austria's classical music world. The legendary concert hall Musikverein turns 150, and this year marks the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth. His party in Vienna will last through 2020, with events like a weeks-long series of all of his symphonies by the Vienna Philharmonic and dozens of concerts at Wiener Konzerthaus and Musikverein. Plus, the world-renowned Salzburg Festival celebrates its centennial this summer with theatrical premieres and performances ranging from avant-garde chamber music to lavish productions of opera classics such as Tosca, Don Giovanni, and Elektra. —John Wray
5. Baja Sur's East Cape, Mexico
Just when you think the Baja buzz has reached a fever pitch, new arrivals make it all the more thrilling. This year, the locus of the excitement has shifted away from the towns of Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo up to the East Cape, where a dreamy new 1,000-acre luxury enclave has finally come to fruition near Los Barriles. The Four Seasons Resort Los Cabos at Costa Palmas opened in October, with 141 rooms overlooking the placid Sea of Cortéz, and the Costa Palmas Beach & Yacht Club is welcoming members and hotel guests to its pools, golf course, two miles of beachfront, and — should you need a place to park your superyacht — a glittering, lake-size marina. Keep an eye out in 2021 for the arrival of Amanvari, Aman Resorts' corner of Costa Palmas, with 20 villas and 24 residences. But all of that is merely the gateway to the real draw: An undisturbed corner of Baja where desert, mountains, and water meet. —Lila Harron Battis
6. Barbados
This 166-square-mile island on the eastern edge of the Caribbean is largely famous for its powder-white beaches, British-colonial roots, manifold rum shops, and native daughter Rihanna. Recently, the country's first female prime minister, Mia Mottley, sent out a rallying cry for anyone with Bajan roots to return to the island in 2020 to partake in a year-long calendar of events celebrating Bajan heritage and culture. The 52-week festival, dubbed "We Gatherin'," will launch in January and travel to all 11 parishes before culminating in a country-wide blowout in December. Visitors can expect lively street parades, traditional eats like flying fish and cou-cou, live soca music, and must-see jamborees such as the carnivalesque Crop Over Festival, Food & Rum Festival, and Oistins Fish Festival. Away from the action, the 40-suite hideaway Cobblers Cove just emerged from a five-year renovation and now sparkles with coral stone floors, local artwork, and original rattan furniture. In addition to surfing and diving, active travelers can take advantage of the hotel's new coast-to-coast hiking experience or participate in the Walkers Reserve's new lineup of outdoor pursuits. —Nora Walsh
7. Beijing, China
Last September, the largest airport in the world opened in Beijing. After five years of work and an estimated $25 billion, the 7.5 million-square-foot behemoth, designed by starchitect Zaha Hadid, is predicted to greet some 70 million travelers annually. Though you could visit for the airport alone, Beijing has seen a surge of new developments over the past year. The new Mandarin Oriental Wangfujing, opened last March, has a boutique hotel feel, with 73 capacious rooms, yet offers big-time amenities like a state-of-the-art spa, a sleek fitness center with a lap pool, two on-site restaurants, and a library. A short walk away, the Forbidden City, a palace complex in central Beijing, will open the historic Qianlong Garden for the first time ever in 2020. Its stunning interiors have remained mostly unchanged since they were built in imperial China. —Scott Bay
8. Big Island, Hawaii
Despite the eruption of Kīlauea volcano in 2018 and the subsequent tourism downturn, visitors to Hawaii's largest island were never really in danger — the volcanic activity was limited to its east side, far from the resorts on the Big Island's western coast. But now that the lava has stopped flowing, there's new energy in the air. The island's biggest resort opening in years is set to debut in January 2020 — a reimagining of Mauna Lani by Auberge Resorts, the first Hawaiian venture by the Bay Area-based luxury hotel brand. After a yearlong, $200 million renovation, the property will unveil a redesigned spa that'll incorporate Hawaiian botanicals grown on-property into its treatments, as well as Canoe House, a beachfront restaurant with a menu full of local items like grilled Kona lobster. Elsewhere, a new wave of artisans is taking hold, like Kona's Big Island Distillers, which sources ingredients for its spirits — like honey, sweet potatoes, and coffee — directly from the island. —John Wogan
9. Botswana
Take your pick from a slew of new safari lodges. The Okavango Delta just saw the opening of Natural Selection's Tuludi, a treehouse-inspired camp with seven tented suites connected by elevated boardwalks, and come June, the solar-powered Xigera Safari Lodge will debut in the delta's Moremi Game Reserve. On the edge of Chobe National Park, you'll find a new, six-tent mobile camp called Linyanti Expeditions, where travelers take walking safaris through the bush in search of elephants, zebras, and rare birds. Meanwhile Great Plains Selinda Camp, in an area of northern Botswana best known for sightings of the rare African wild dog, has been dazzling guests since its opening last June, with guest rooms that put a fresh spin on the classic safari aesthetic, and exteriors that echo the thatched-roof buildings in the tribal center of the Bayei people. —Madeline Bilis
10. Boston
Boston is becoming the country's next great hotel city. Recent months saw two top-shelf debuts: the Four Seasons One Dalton landed in a new 61-story skyscraper offering 215 rooms, a massive spa and indoor pool, and a branch of haute-Japanese eatery Zuma. The Whitney reinvents a 1909 brick building on the Charles River as a 65-room, Federalist-chic boutique hotel; the restaurant's from the team behind the nationally awarded Juliet. This summer, the Langham emerges from a closure and redo, and early in 2020, the city's former Taj will be rebranded the Newbury. The 90-year-old grand dame will show off contemporary cachet inside classical bones, with interiors by Alexandra Champalimaud, Jeffrey Beers, and Ken Fulk. Beyond hotels, there's the new permanent installation of one of Yayoi Kusama's kaleidoscopic Mirror Infinity Rooms at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, and the recent opening of a Time Out Market, bringing together 15 of the city's best eateries. Five more food halls will launch in the next year, giving you the makings of one very satisfying getaway. —Andrew Sessa
11. Brisbane, Australia
Though the massive Queen's Wharf revitalization project in the Queensland capital won't be complete until 2022, headway is already being made in the form of three buzzy waterfront recreation areas. Family-friendly Waterline Park courts outdoor enthusiasts with a climbing wall and other sporting equipment; Mangrove Walk focuses on indigenous culture and local wildlife, with educational signposts stationed throughout the quarter-mile path; and the initial section of a rehabilitated Bicentennial Bikeway features wider lanes, better sight lines, and improved traffic flow. A hotel boom in 2018 and 2019 brought such high-profile openings as the Calile, Ovolo Inchcolm, and Fantauzzo, but a host of five-star properties slated for the Queen's Wharf — including a Ritz-Carlton and a Rosewood — will elevate the Australian city's cache even further. —Sarah Bruning
12. Caesarea, Israel
The happy marriage of antiquity and modernity is drawing more visitors to Caesarea, a coastal town and national park in northern Israel on the site of a 2,000-year-old Roman harbor. The new King Herod Visitor's Center, named for the port's founding monarch and built in the massive arched vaults that once stood beneath a temple, displays recent archaeological finds, such as colorful mosaics and gold coins recovered from shipwrecks. Admire the ancient harbor from a table at Helena Restaurant — a seaside fine-dining spot that features locally foraged ingredients and Israeli wines — then wander the ruins of bathhouses or explore submerged Roman breakwaters, columns, and cargo along the snorkeling and scuba diving trails at the Old Caesarea Diving Center. Spend the night at the newly renovated Dan Caesarea, a posh midcentury resort built by French banking scion Baron Edmond de Rothschild. —Sara Toth Stub
13. California's Central Coast
Long considered a necessary interlude on the way to somewhere else, this once-sleepy stretch has become a destination in its own right. Travelers are finally catching on to what locals have known long all along: the Central Coast of California offers quiet beauty, agricultural bounty, and some of the best wines in the state. Coastal enclaves such as Cayucos, which self-identifies as "the last of the California beach towns," and Pismo Beach, where monarchs flock to eucalyptus groves every winter, still feel refreshingly low-key — despite major updates like Vespera on Ocean, a 124-room resort overlooking the Pacific which opened in October. In the Paso Robles area, young gun winemakers thinking outside the barrel continue to draw a cult following. Stay at the Piccolo, a new urban extension of the Paso Robles Inn, and taste for yourself at the recently opened Tin City, an industrial complex that's home to 23 small-production wineries. Quaint San Luis Obispo is getting overdue credit thanks to a budding restaurant scene and super chic hotel arrivals: check out the Hotel San Luis Obispo, from the team behind Hotel Healdsburg, and Hotel Cerro, opening soon with a rooftop pool and in-house distillery. Further north, the more rural communities of Cambria and San Simeon retain the same countryside charm that attracted William Randolph Hearst to build his enchanting Hearst Castle, which celebrates its centennial this year. With sand and surf, food and wine, stunning hikes, and historic architecture, now is the time to go before the secret's out. —Tanvi Chheda
14. Chilean Lakes District
Primed to be the perfect spot for viewing December's solar eclipse, the Chilean Lakes District is graced with clear skies and out-of-this-world landscapes. Located just north of the more rugged Patagonia region, the Lakes District offers the same stunning views, but with the option for softer adventures. (Think: white-water rafting, mountain biking, fly-fishing, and truly top-notch stargazing.) Take it all in at the andBeyond Vira Vira, a luxury lodge on a 56-acre estate offering a long list of outdoor excursions, plus impressive farm-to-table dining. Or opt for the iconic Hotel Antumalal, once visited by Queen Elizabeth II, which overhauled its culinary program in November. Now, the focus is on local and traditional dishes, like the savory pastel de jaiba, or Chilean blue crab pie. —Scott Bay
15. Costa Rica
Several just-opened eco-retreats are offering more ways to unwind in Costa Rica. Perhaps the most-anticipated is Nayara Tented Camp, a safari-style retreat inside a sloth sanctuary. Adjacent to the famed Nayara Hotel and Nayara Springs resort, the camp debuted in December, and offers 29 family-friendly suites linked by footbridges across the rain forest. Then there's Kasiiya Papagayo, which opened as an adventure-focused getaway; walkie-talkies and headlamps are distributed at check-in. Its five sustainably built, ocean-facing tents rest on platforms above the local flora, leaving much of the landscape undisturbed. Farther south is Kinkára Luxury Retreat, built on the slopes of the Talamanca mountain range. The wellness resort's 31 glamping tents are centered around a thatched-roof yoga pavilion and a garden. Seriously indulgent bathhouses feature indoor-outdoor rain showers; outside, you can take a dip in the waterfalls and wading pools that dot the property. —Madeline Bilis
16. Doha, Qatar
Doha's arts and culture scene is giving travelers a reason drop in before the crowds arrive for the 2022 Fifa World Cup. The National Museum of Qatar, by architect Jean Nouvel, opened last year, and adds to the city's collection of art hubs, like Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Islamic Art. And thanks to a brand-new underground railway system, it'll be a breeze to go from Hamad International Airport to the restaurants and galleries along the palm-edged Corniche. The new Mandarin Oriental, Doha and the Al Najada Doha Hotel by Tivoli are among the stylish hotels to arrive on the scene—both are in Old Doha, striking distance from the Souq Waqif, the city's historic open-air street market. —Siobhan Reid
17. Dominica
This 290-square-mile teardrop is an outdoorsy traveler's oasis, claiming 365 rivers, 300 miles of hiking trails, a dozen waterfalls, and the world's second-largest hot spring. And resorts are betting that visitors will find the trek to this "Nature Island" utterly worth it. The game-changer is Cabrits Resort & Spa Kempinksi, which debuted in October and claims to be the first five-star hotel in a destination better known for landscapes than luxury. The resort has 151 rooms and suites; three restaurants; a massive spa, offering mud baths sourced from one of the island's 10 volcanoes; and a bar called Rumfire, winkingly called a "barmacy," where you can sample more than 30 "bush rums" — homemade spirits infused with medicinal herbs, spices, or fruit. But it's not just Kempinski that's betting on Dominica. Wellness resort Jungle Bay, destroyed when Hurricane Maria careened through the island in 2017, relocated from Délices to Soufrière and reopened last fall. Secret Bay, a clutch of luxury treehouse villas, is also back in business after the storm. And Anichi Resort & Spa, an Autograph Collection project, is scheduled to debut on Picard Beach later this year. —Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon
18. The Douro River
Portugal remains a popular getaway — and in 2020, it's all about experiencing it from the water. Last spring, Viking River Cruises christened the Viking Helgrim, a vessel built for its new Douro itinerary. A few weeks later, AmaWaterways debuted the AmaDouro, which sails between Porto and Vega de Terrón in Spain. This year, Tauck will launch the 84-passenger Andorinha, and Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection will christen the S.S. Saõ Gabriel, which has décor that channels the ambience of the Douro Valley. On land, wineries like Quinta do Portal and Quinta do Seixo serve light reds, vinho verde, and the ubiquitous port. Stay in Porto at recent additions like the Art Deco stunner Le Monumental Palace or the art-filled Torel 1884, whose 12 rooms and 11 standalone apartments feature art inspired by fabrics, materials, and spices from faraway lands. —Hannah Walhout
19. Dubai
Expo 2020 Dubai, the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, is set to change the face of a city whose face is always, already, constantly in flux. About halfway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the 1,000-acre "District 2020" will eventually have multiple parks, a dedicated metro station, and more than 200 restaurants and food venues. (After the expo wraps, the government plans to turn the site into a LEED Gold certified tech and education hub.) The country's fraught record on labor issues has brought heightened scrutiny to the endeavor, but a whopping 192 countries have signed on to join in the festivities, including Iran, Israel, and Qatar, three nations with whom the U.A.E. has had strained diplomatic relationships. The program will feature 60 live shows every day, including "Al Wasl," the first Emirati opera, scored by American composer Mohammed Fairouz with a libretto by Emirati writer Maha Gargash. And for the first time ever, each and every nation, from China to Djibouti, will have its own pavilion. During its run, which begins in October, the city expects to receive around 25 million visitors. It's not often we get to publish the words "an event the likes of which the world has never seen" — but in this case, whatever you think of the whole expo enterprise, it certainly applies. —Hannah Walhout
20. Durban, South Africa
Despite a thriving food scene and tropical beaches, Durban has always lurked in the shadows of Cape Town and Johannesburg. But with the unveiling of Durban's new seaside promenade, part of a $2.5 billion development designed to rejuvenate the waterfront area, the city is becoming South Africa's next cultural and coastal getaway to watch. Dubbed the 'Golden Mile', the shiny 3.7 mile strip, which is an ongoing development over the next 15 years, will flaunt glistening buildings with apartments, shops, a hotel, and public hangout spaces, plus a hotly anticipated new cruise terminal, which began construction in late 2019 and is set to open in 2021. Beyond the shiny waterfront, the city's food scene, which is rooted in South Asian cuisine due to the substantial Indian community, thrives. Street food dishes are a must: look for bunny chow (a hollowed out bread loaf filled with curry) at CaneCutters and lemony pieces of chicken and slap chips (fries doused in vinegar) from Afro's Chicken. Another key stop: A trip to the newly relocated Af...
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